Among them was a 16-lot private group of work by local Yorkshire artists depicting scenes around Whitby and the Yorkshire coast, which caught the attention of both trade and private buyers from the county.
The top lot was a collection of sketches by George Haydock Dodgson (1811-80) depicting Whitby and its environs, which sold to an anonymous buyer for £6500 against an estimate of £600-900.
The group, comprising more than 25 monochrome, sepia wash and pencil works of the surrounding landscape, form the basis of the illustrations found in the 1836 book, The Scenery of Whitby and the Pickering Railway, by Henry Belcher.
The collection also featured a painting of the Whitby furniture maker George Varley in his workshop. Painted by Albert George Stevens (1863-1925), a member of the short-lived Staithes Group, it sold to a private North Yorkshire collector for £4200 against a £400-600 guide.
Varleys of Whitby was a prominent Yorkshire family-run business supplying 18th century-style furniture to clients in Britain and the US. Specialising in works to order, it took pride in its high quality furniture and the use of traditional techniques.
The painting had been with the Peter Haworth gallery in Cumbria and included in the Fine Art Society’s exhibition of The Staithes Group in 2002.
Among the 20th century works in the sale, the second tranche of works by Grosvenor School artists from the estate of Edith Lawrence sold strongly with all seven lots comfortably getting away.
The top lot was Dorrit Black’s (1891-1951) vibrant 10 x 12in (25 x 30cm) linocut Corner of the Garden (c.1936). Made in an edition of 50, it sold to a private US collector for £8500 against an estimate of £3000-5000.
It bettered the price Tennants achieved for another linocut from the same edition and source, which sold in July 2016 at £7000.
Mod Brit contribution
More than 25 lots of Modern British art, consigned from the property of a gentleman, also went under the hammer. A highlight was Singapore Girl on a Swing, a sculpture by Sydney Harpley (1927-92) which established a new high for the artist at £26,000 despite selling below its £30,000-40,000 guide.
Also scrapping away for the same price, against a £40,000-60,000 estimate, was Installation: Contrasts in Red, Black and White by St Ives abstract artist Terry Frost (1915-2003).
Painted in 2002-03, the piece assembles together all the Cornish-inspired motifs and themes that ran through his work – the sun, the moon, the sea, boats, harbours and spirals.
